


separation

by SunflowerEnthusiast



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, an au narrated by siete for the most part
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 16:43:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13011903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunflowerEnthusiast/pseuds/SunflowerEnthusiast
Summary: Just looking at Esser and Quatre, nothing seems odd about them—they seem as normal as any other pair of twins, really. But if you look closer, you’ll see it. The fire that licks Esser’s hair, the smoke painting her nails black; the snow that dusts Quatre’s hair, the frost coating his nails in ice. Once you see that, you understand that they’re not normal at all.Siete saw that, and realized they were a tragedy.





	separation

**Author's Note:**

> I heard it was twin's day today, but hey I didn't make it on time, what a surprise. I did manage to finish it before midnight technically! Anyway, I love the twins, fight me. Explanation on what this is at the bottom

Just looking at Esser and Quatre, nothing seems odd about them—they seem as normal as any other pair of twins, really. But if you look closer, you’ll see it. The fire that licks Esser’s hair, the smoke painting her nails black; the snow that dusts Quatre’s hair, the frost coating his nails in ice. Once you see that, you understand that they’re not normal at all.

Siete saw that, and realized they were a tragedy.

There’s a tale in this world—if twins are born with different powers, then they won’t be able to coexist. Because twins with different powers are so rare, it’s hard to confirm the rumor. But upon meeting Esser and Quatre, Siete came to know it was true. And for these two, ‘coexist’ is quite literal. If they get too close to each other, their individual powers are canceled out by the other’s, and they slowly lose stamina. Direct contact is even worse. Siete has seen Esser accidentally touch Quatre’s hand, and Quatre got a severe burn and Esser had frostbite on her fingertips.

But they still stay together. They refuse to separate and travel far from each other for too long. Having been abandoned by their parents and labeled as cursed children, they stayed together for all this time, treading their boundaries carefully. By now, they perfectly know how far away they have to be from each other not to be affected.

That they’re still together is somewhat surprising, considering Esser’s self-sacrificing personality and Quatre’s willingness to do anything for his sister. Their answers, not really surprisingly, were the similar when Siete asked them why they haven’t gotten frustrated and gone their separate ways.

“Mm…I don’t want to hurt Quatre, but if something happened to him when I wasn’t there, I would never forgive myself. If he asked me to leave, then I would.” Esser’s eyes had been full of sincere determination. “And I’ll find some way to allow us to stop hurting each other. This world is full of all sorts of magical things; I’m certain that there is something out there that can help us.”

Siete was almost afraid of how serious Esser had seemed in that moment. She generally isn’t intense, but Siete thought that he would be burned to a crisp from the intensity rolling off of her.

He’s decided not to bring it up anymore, but he does ask for progress updates on her search.

As for Quatre…

“I can never forgive myself for the times I’ve hurt Nee-san, but I won’t leave her side, because something might happen and I need to be there to help her. If she asked me to leave, I would.” Quatre had smiled icily, fitting for the little ice prince. “One day, I’ll find a way to stop us from hurting each other. Until that day, I will continue to watch over Nee-san from afar.”

Though not brimming with as much obvious intensity as Esser, Quatre had quiet conviction in his voice and steel coating his words. Quatre had always been scary at times, but that time was different. He had full intention to cut down anyone who got in his way.

Siete just doesn’t ask him about that stuff anymore, since he still gets chills down his spine when he remembers that.

When speaking of their personalities, it’s somewhat amusing, Siete supposes. Though Esser seems so aloof, she really is a warm and kind girl. On the other hand, despite having such an elegant appearance, Quatre is foul-mouthed and somewhat haughty.

It’s just part of their charm, though. Then again, Siete is awfully biased when it comes to the twins. Yeah, he’s very biased…

And no matter how many years pass, he will continue to watch over them carefully, waiting for the day he can see them smile together.

* * *

 

Remembering the day he met the twins usually makes Siete wince. He had been young back then as well, and he’d stumbled across a mismatched pair of twins who stayed close to each other despite it obviously hurting them. When Siete approached them out of pity, Quatre had tried to stand in front of Esser, but she was quicker, hiding Quatre behind her as she stared right up at Siete fearlessly. Quatre was glaring at him from behind Esser, ready to help her at a moment’s notice. Seeing these tiny kids trying so desperately to protect each other when they probably shouldn’t have even been together…

Siete has to admit—even his foolish teenage self was emotionally moved.

The part that makes him wince is when Siete tried to get them to come with him and Esser started launching fireballs at him.

Even though Esser is normally gentle, they had been through too much at that point. Esser didn’t know him, and she was afraid he would do something to them. Looking back on it, Siete really shouldn’t have invited them to come with him on their first meeting.

It took about a month to finally gain Esser’s trust, but Quatre still didn’t trust him. Esser was finally considering taking Siete up on his offer, but Quatre didn’t want to. He just didn’t trust anyone but his sister. Siete wasn’t really surprised; they both had too many scars for their age.

One day, the twins ended up in a fight against a small gang who was trying to pick on them. Siete arrived and was just on time to take a hit that would’ve injured Esser instead. The gang members were surprised by his sudden appearance, but since he had already been downed, they redoubled their efforts on the twins. Siete doesn’t remember it all that much, since he was losing a lot of blood, but he knows one of them turned on him to finish him off. Right before the poison-coated bullet could touch him, a wall of ice suddenly shot up in front of him, stopping the bullet.

Jumping away from each other since they had gotten a little too close in the moment, Esser and Quatre simultaneously launched spirals of fire and ice at the gang members, successfully chasing them off at last.

As Esser pressed an old towel against his wound, Quatre started to unpack a knife and tweezers from his pack, as if this was a normal occurrence. After asking Esser to sterilize the tools, Quatre had glared at Siete, only half-sincere.

“I still don’t like you.”

Siete had just grinned.

* * *

 

The twins’ first days in the city Siete lived in were somewhat rough. Even though Siete had told them to relax since none of the people there would attack them, they avoided anyone and everyone and stayed inside Siete’s tiny apartment. Siete had been exasperated, but at least he didn’t have to worry about them being attacked by monsters.

Due to overpopulation, monsters often invade cities and towns. Walls don’t keep them out since the bigger ones just crash through them and make openings, and magical barriers will often fall after a wave of monsters crash into them. There are guards in most cities and some towns, but there are normally so many monsters sneaking in that it’s up to the residents to keep an eye out. It’s so normal, though, that it practically isn’t a problem, and the average person perfectly knows how to take down a monster with a weapon or their power.

Anyway, back then there were actually fewer monsters than there are now, but Siete had still been worried about the twins. He was worried about a lot of things about the twins, but a lot of his worries faded as time passed by.

As the years passed, Siete watched them grow up and become stronger. By the time they were thirteen, they had no problems interacting with other people, and they were never taken off-guard by monsters since their senses were so sharp. They lived relatively normally, and even though Siete caught them just sitting a room apart and staring at the floor often, he thought that they were growing up so fast.

When Siete had said that to them once, Quatre had sneered and said, “You aren’t our mother, Toumoku.”

Siete had pretended to be hurt by that one, and Esser watched on with a smile as he and Quatre bickered.

In his opinion, he really hadn’t deserved that name just yet, though.

* * *

 

The next year, Siete formed the Juutenshu with Uno, who he had known for a while. He recruited the twins, who agreed since they wanted to do something other than the small work they picked up here and there. Finally, the only other starting member was a young woman named Song who Siete met by chance. Song was lonely back then—Siete still thinks that that played a big role in her decision to join the order.

Siete’s goal had been to gather the ten strongest people he could find (well, including him) and to tackle any big cases of trouble that cropped up, but he very quickly realized he wouldn’t be able to gather ten people upon starting the group. So, sighing somewhat at how the name fell short due to the lack of people, Siete started operations as the Juutenshu.

With just the four of them, they solved enough problems plaguing the city that they were granted a portion of land to conduct their operations from. Siete designed their ‘base’ (which was really just sort of like an estate) with Uno’s help. Though Siete had initially thought he would let all the members roam free, he decided to have everyone stay in the same place for simplicity. From there, they took missions from other places as well, and sent two members to take care of them at a time.

Those first days were quite busy since they gained renown quickly. It was also one of the first times that Esser and Quatre were separated for longer than a few hours, and both twins had been extremely restless as they waited for the other to return home. Siete felt sorry for separating them, but it couldn’t be helped. Sometimes they needed variation in their pairings.

As the years passed, more members joined them. The first was Octo, who Uno had already been acquainted with, and soon after followed Funf, who had been raised by Octo. Nio joined somewhat reluctantly, but she was a lot stronger than she looked. Finally, most recently, Sarase had joined. Though very loud and boisterous, Sarase could clear a wave of monsters in one hit. Even Siete’s a little scared of her.

Siete’s still wondering who their last member will be, but he’ll just have to wait and see. At the moment, he still hasn’t seen anyone he would call strong enough to join their order.

* * *

 

Even now, Esser and Quatre still continue to suffer, but they’ve gotten better at being able to have fun together even so. Siete looks up as Esser flies past on a cloud of fire, while Quatre chases her on his icicle-board that’s shaped like a snowflake. They dance and wheel across the sky, chasing each other playfully, but their game is deceiving. They circle the city several times, and while most would think nothing of it, Siete knows that they’re actually conducting surveillance together to make sure peace is still being upheld. Siete smiles at them, and he notices someone else fly up nearby. Song takes off into the skies, but she heads out of the city, unlike the twins. She’s probably on her way to take care of a job. They’ve all gotten strong enough to be able to handle even difficult jobs on their own.

Currently, some of them have other duties beside their work as a member of the Juutenshu. As for the twins, Esser helps out at the orphanages within the city. The orphanages are sometimes short on staff to watch over the children, so Esser helps them out. She likes to help take the children on field trips to let them see new things, and while they’re out, Esser defends them vigilantly from any monster ambushes. She loves all the children like her own siblings, and all the children look up to her for being so strong.

Meanwhile, Quatre is the sole librarian of the Central Library. The Central Library is near the estate, and Quatre is the only one who takes care of it, since the duty had been passed on to him from the old librarian. Since Quatre travels so often, he usually brings back new books to put in the library. Despite being so busy with both his duties as part of the Juutenshu and being the only librarian at the Central Library, Quatre still puts aside time to conduct free classes at the library for the orphaned children.

Esser had started her job because she wanted to help the children in some way, but Quatre had first become interested in the library to research a method to let him and Esser stop hurting each other. After he became friends with the old librarian, he was asked to run the library from then on. Quatre doesn’t seem to have too many problems maintaining the library despite how much traffic passes through.

Watching them carry out their daily routine normally is heartening to see, but Siete knows that they’re both still suffering under their smiles. He wishes there was something more he could do, but all he can do is keep his ears open for any rumors about cases like theirs. Even the other members of the Juutenshu hope for them to one day be able to truly say they’re ‘normal,’ but most of them don’t voice those opinions. Siete can still tell, though. It’s hard to feel unaffected when you watch the twins.

Siete watches as the twins travel overhead once more, slowly this time. Quatre makes butterflies out of ice as entertainment, while Esser lets fire flowers bloom from her fingertips, letting them fall through the sky and fade away. They create a large bunch of each and then release them into the sky, watching as they flutter to the ground while dancing around each other. Both butterflies and flowers fade before they hit the ground.

The trail follows them as they make their final lap around the city, letting their opposite powers put on a delicate show of fire and ice.

One day, Siete hopes their shared smiles are not so bittersweet.

* * *

 

Esser lands first, and Quatre touches down beside her, his mantle fluttering in the wind. The snowflake-shaped icicles ringing around the bottom of his mantle and hanging off his shoulder clink gently in an almost musical rhythm. Esser knows that she has decorations in the same places, except hers are red flowers that don’t wilt even in the face of her fire.

Quatre smiles at Esser. “I’ll see you later, Nee-san.” Quatre has to go back to the library to check on it. Esser smiles back and gives a little nod.

“Mm. See you later.”

As Esser watches Quatre walk off, she feels her chest tighten. She always feels melancholy whenever they part after their routine morning patrol, but she isn’t sure why, since they’ve long since gotten used to parting at times.

Maybe she does know why.

Their morning patrol feels like they only time they can have fun together without worrying about affecting each other with their power. Since they fly close to each other but far enough to not let the effect set in, it feels like she’s really getting to spend time with him. It’s not as if they don’t walk together or sit together at the same distance, but…

It’s different.

The time that they spend patrolling is quiet except for the wind in their ears. It feels like they have their own little world, safe from danger. Esser wishes they knew how to do this when they were younger, but it’s a trick they both picked up recently.

It’s fun.

Quatre fades from view. Esser must also head to the orphanages to check on the children. But for a little while, she stays in place, staring at where Quatre had disappeared.

Maybe, one day, she won’t hurt him anymore.

For now, though, she keeps the distance they must maintain, and thinks about all of the hugs she should have given him when he cried, and all of the times she should have been able to hold his hand and tell him that everything will be okay.

_Ah…_

Esser wipes her tears away.

“At the very least, let him be happy.”

She can only hope her whispered wish has reached someone somewhere.

**Author's Note:**

> I was creating this au, and it wasn't actually supposed to include this but I wanted to write something for twin's day so I wrote this. For the record, I generally don't actually go through with writing out multi-chapter fics, but I'm too attached to _not_ write anything for this either. Also "why Juutenshu" Well, the ten people part doesn't make sense with Eternals so rip. Also I think there might be two u's at the end but I'm just too lazy to fix it right now
> 
> If I really don't feel like writing out the fic, then I'll probably write another chapter of this at least to complete the twins' story. For now, this is it! I hope it wasn't terrible or too cheesy (like my last fic)......Hopefully it isn't too unrealistic either but knowing me it probably is! Thank you for reading my (super-indulgent) fic for the twins! 
> 
> As my last note: I usually write a line or two at the beginning of a fic, before it actually starts, to sort of, idk, describe it. This time I wrote "We're still family." and I made myself emo


End file.
